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Interpretation of ambiguous facial affect in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

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Abstract

In addition to impairments in cognitive functioning, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with deficits in interpersonal functioning as well which are assumed to stem from a distorted perception or interpretation of affective information. While previous research suggests that the decoding of negatively valenced facial stimuli is impaired, less is known about the potential interpretation biases in ADHD which are linked to other externalizing psychopathologies. The present study investigated interpretation biases in adults with ADHD (N = 65) and controls (N = 49) using ambiguous facial stimuli (angry/happy, angry/fearful, fearful/happy blends) with different proportions of each emotion. Participants indicated the dominant emotion and rated the perceived intensity of each image. While impaired processing of fearful expressions was evident in the ADHD group, the results of the current study do not provide support for an interpretation bias in adults with ADHD. These findings suggest that interpretation biases may be restricted to aggressive psychopathology and cannot be generalized to individuals with ADHD.

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Notes

  1. Additional analyses of the interpretation bias and perceived intensity ratings which excluded all patients with ADHD-relevant medication from the data set revealed the same main and interaction effects.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), Grant No. Scho 1448/2-1. Aiste Jusyte is funded by the LEAD Graduate School & Research Network [GSC1028], a project of the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments. Aside from financial support, no further contributions were made by the funders. The authors would like to thank Nina-Maria Höhnle and Eva Wiedemann for their support in data collection.

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  1. Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Schleichstr. 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany

    Alexander Schneidt & Michael Schönenberg

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany

    Alexander Schneidt

  3. LEAD Graduate School and Research Network, University of Tübingen, Gartenstr. 29, 72074 Tübingen, Germany

    Aiste Jusyte

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Schneidt, A., Jusyte, A. & Schönenberg, M. Interpretation of ambiguous facial affect in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 269, 657–666 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-018-0879-1

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